


As the Clock Winds Down

by reylocalligraphy



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Basketball, Ben is a secret nerd, F/M, Finn and Poe gotta pay up, Fluff, It's so fluffy you're gonna die, Jock Falls For Nerd, Rey is an awesome nerd who yells at Ben, Reylo - Freeform, Rose Tico is the real MVP, SO MUCH FLUFF, matchmaker rose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-12 08:55:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15336321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reylocalligraphy/pseuds/reylocalligraphy
Summary: "Move over!" Rey hissed."No! I was hiding here first.”Who is Ben Solo, Crait High School’s star point guard, hiding from? And why is he suddenly taking pointers from a random nobody? High school Reylo AU featuring tech nerd Rey (who seems to be the only person Ben listens to) and arrogant but actually soft basketball star Ben.





	As the Clock Winds Down

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Erulisse17](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erulisse17/gifts).



> This fic is written for Erulisse17 in The Writing Den’s Summer Fic Exchange. Her prompt was: "Move over!"/"No! I was hiding here first." 
> 
> Hope you all enjoy this high school Reylo one-shot!

The hands of the huge clock that loomed on the top of the Crait High School building indicated it was just after 4 pm. 

_Perfect_ , Rey thought to herself. She had one whole hour in her secret space before she needed to head home and face Unkar. 

Rey was extremely fortunate to have such good relations with Maz, the school janitor. While she was strict and brutally honest towards all other students, Maz treated Rey with the utmost kindness and respect. The constant gleam in Maz’s peering eyes somehow made Rey feel as if Maz knew everything about Rey’s life.

Well, it didn’t bother Rey that much since Maz had allowed Rey to use her closet as an awesome secret space for her to use every day after school. 

Even though the janitor’s closet was quite tiny, Rey loved using it as a solitary haven for her to do homework, read, and tinker. An enthusiast for all things related to math and technology, Rey adored anything with numbers, anything with code, and basically anything that allowed her to experiment and be creative. Maz even cleared a shelf for her recent robotics mini-projects.

She paused her reverie as she squeezed through the crowds of sweaty teenagers departing the school to enter the quieter hallways at the back of the building.

She turned her head a few times, checking just to be sure. _Great, there’s no one here._ Then, she unlocked the door to the janitor’s closet and slipped in quietly.

After she closed the door and flicked on the light, she realized she wasn’t the only person there. She opened her mouth to scream -

“Don’t,” the large looming shadow beside her pleaded, “say a word. _Please._ ”

Rey’s heart pounded in fear so rapidly, she couldn’t process his words or take a proper look at the trespassing stranger, so she merely nodded. But she was having a hard time breathing. This closet could barely fit herself usually, and now there was this - this massive hulk beside her.

"Move over!" Rey hissed.

"No! I was hiding here first,” the mystery hulk figure whispered.

Rey gritted her teeth. “Look, I come here every day. You certainly don’t own this space. All I want for you is to move over!”

“Really, who are you? Does this room say your name here?”

“Maz gave me permission to use her closet after school every day, who the hell are you?”

Rey’s question was greeted with silence, so Rey proudly smirked. She assumed that the rude guy, currently occupying her _rightful space_ , had realized his errors. 

Rey assumed wrongly.

“What do you mean, who the hell am I!” the voice huffed. “How do you not know who I am?”

Rey’s jaw dropped open. _Does this guy really think he’s so amazing that everyone in the school should know who he is?_ Sure, he looked tall and had longer hair than most boys at Crait High, but that didn’t merit instant recognition.

“No, no I don’t,” she calmly replied. “I’m Rey Johnson, sophomore. You are?”

“Ben Solo. You might recognize me from the school basketball team?”

 _Ohhhhhhhh._ Rey had heard of Ben Solo before, but she never watched any school basketball games. She had no idea what the school’s star point guard and most popular junior looked like.

What Rey did know was that this guy clearly needed an ego beatdown.

“No, not at all!” Rey exclaimed, gleefully. 

Ben widened his eyes. “You don’t watch our basketball team? Why not?”

Suddenly, he gasped in horror. His eyes turned into narrow slits as he glared at Rey. “Do you not like basketball?”

Rey was taken aback, stunned by his accusation. How could she explain to this basketball aficionado that she didn’t mind the sport, but wasn’t in love with it? “Uh, well -”

Another thought occurred to him. “Oh, wait - do you not understand the game? I could teach you, if you need a teacher -”

“No, I definitely understand basketball,” Rey interrupted. She couldn’t even count anymore how many horrific experiences she had with Unkar and his friends when their group watched basketball games while drinking the whole night away. “I just don’t care for watching.”

Rey saw that Ben was still unable to accept her response and was about to go on another rambling tirade about his beloved sport, so she thought of the one thing that had been on her mind since the start of their conversation.

“Who are you hiding from?” she innocently asked.

And that question instantly did the trick. Ben immediately tightened his jaw and his gaze turned to the floor. 

“That’s none of your business,” he growled.

Rey smirked. “So you wouldn’t mind at all if I opened this door right now and shouted the words ‘Ben Solo is in this janitor’s closet!’?”

Ben shook his head violently and shifted as far back as he could away from Rey within the closet’s limited space. “No, please don’t do that!” 

Seeing Rey’s grin, he relaxed. “Okay, fine, I’ll tell you. I was hiding from Tico.”

Rey blinked. “Tico… as in Paige Tico? The head cheerleader, current senior?” 

She was quite confused. Why would Ben be hiding from Paige? From what she knew of her, Paige was rather different from the stereotypical head cheerleader. She was a wonderful, brave leader for the whole school who treated everyone with utmost respect. 

“No,” Ben shook his head, “it would be better if it were Paige. I’m hiding from her sister.”

“Her sister?” Rey’s jaw dropped at this revelation. “You’re - you’re hiding from Rose Tico?”

Rey also didn’t know Rose extremely well, but they did share a class together (Intermediate Computer Science) and were in the same grade. Rose seemed really gentle and definitely extremely hardworking.

Suddenly, Rey burst out laughing. “You, the star athlete of the basketball team, are hiding from a sophomore girl, who is a solid foot shorter than you?”

“That’s not funny!” Ben seethed, his face flushing red. 

“Rose is really scary. She may look short, gentle, nice and all that, but she’s actually _terrifying_.”

Rey scoffed. “Right. What did you do to piss her off? It had to be something bad if it turned her from a gentle teddy bear into a terrifying monster!”

Ben opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. “Well, it’s a long story,” he trailed off.

“I have plenty of time,” Rey responded gleefully, “especially since I can’t really do anything now that you’re taking up so much of my space. And you’re still hiding from a 5 foot 2 girl. Let’s hear the story!”

Ben sighed, but he acquiesced to Rey’s request. 

“Okay, so I started dating Paige a few months ago - ”

“You and Paige Tico? How? You’re not nearly worthy of her.”

Ben huffed. “Shut it, will you? I don’t know how. She said yes when I asked her out, but it may have helped that I’m the point guard for our school’s winning basketball team -”

“Alright, alright, I get it. You’re a basketball star, your ego is massive, just continue with the story now.”

“Fine,” Ben replied, surprised he wasn’t more annoyed at Rey’s interruptions. “We were together for two months before she dumped me a week ago.”

Rey’s cheeky grin slipped off her face at Ben’s admission. “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be,” Ben waved off Rey’s apology. “We didn’t fit well with each other, and she’ll be going off to college in a couple months. One of us would have ended it soon anyway.”

“But she broke up with me at a really bad time. I was having major trouble with my parents earlier that week, so the night she dumped me I didn’t take it very well. I, uh, may have then threw her phone at the wall in a rage. And then left.”

“Did it break?” Rey asked, flabbergasted. Her machine-loving heart would shatter if Ben actually destroyed a perfectly working phone.

“The glass cracked and the phone couldn’t turn on anymore.”

Rey hid her face in her hands and groaned. “Oh, Ben… Please tell me you apologized to Paige after that…”

Ben tapped his chin. “Um, sort of?The next morning, I left a new phone in her locker that was identical to her original phone.”

Rey groaned even louder. “You idiot,” she admonished, “that’s not an apology at all! Sure, you replaced her phone, but you still need to talk to her.”

“No wonder Rose is hunting you down. She probably looks up to her older sister very much, and you hurt and disrespected Paige!” Rey continued passionately. 

“You must apologize to Paige and Rose, properly. Explain why you acted that way, that you’re genuinely sorry, and you should add that you will never act that way to a girl - or any human, really - again because you really shouldn’t.”

Ben was about to defend himself, before he realized Rey was correct. He gave a small nod. “I guess you’re right,” he responded weakly, “I never really thought about how they felt after I just left. I never even followed up with Paige to make sure she even got the phone.”

Rey beamed. Ben felt something flutter in his stomach at her dazzling smile, but he quickly pushed that feeling away.

“I should get going now,” Ben checked his watch. “Thank you for your advice, I needed that, and for letting me occupy this school-owned-space-that-is-not-yours.”

Warm tones of laughter rang from Rey’s mouth. “Right, whatever. Good luck, and perhaps I’ll see you around school?”

 

\--

 

Despite saying that, Rey really didn’t expect to see Ben again, beyond just fleeting glances if they passed in the hallways. Ben wasn’t in any of her classes, nor was she “popular” enough to actually interact with him outside of class. But life worked in mysterious ways, and she found herself in the presence of Ben Solo yet again - though this time, he was joined by his basketball teammates.

Exactly two weeks after Rey’s first meeting with the annoying but endearing point guard, she decided to sit outside after school to enjoy the amazing April weather for once. 

She found a soft, shady patch of grass underneath a large oak tree near the empty outdoor basketball courts. She laid down, back pressing against the hard trunk, and cracked open her physics textbook. The wind lazily blew the ends of her hair to the side.

Rey smiled at the blissful tranquility of the moment.

With a large flourish of her pencil, she completed writing the solution to the first physics problem. As she flipped her notebook to begin working on the next one, loud shouts and footsteps neared. 

She lifted her head to glare at whoever dared to interrupt her pleasurable peacefulness. Her annoyed groan was swallowed when she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure with long, raven locks and a very tall stature. 

Ben carried a basketball by his side, squashed between his elbow and hip. 

Rey quickly glanced back down at the lined pages of her notebook. She knew she would never live it down if Ben caught her watching them play basketball, after she had vehemently rejected any ounce of appreciation for the sport during their last conversation. 

She moved to the opposite side of the tree, so she would be less visible to anyone on the courts. Rey prayed that Ben hadn’t spotted her already.

If Ben had, he certainly didn’t show it. Ben and his friends (or teammates? Rey had no idea) quickly settled into their positions, only using half of the basketball court. There was no coach in sight, so clearly they were just there to play a quick, lighthearted pickup game.

 

\--

 

“FOUL! COME ON, THAT’S A FOUL!!”

“I’m open, pass it here!”

“- and ONE!”

Even though she usually did not enjoy watching sweaty individuals dribble a ball, shoot it, and shout at each other, Rey found herself frequently craning her neck to peek at their pickup basketball for the next hour. For some reason, it was mesmerizing to watch the action on the court unfolding, and she simply could not resist that force.

Rey glanced down at her physics homework to note that she had solved … four whole problems. Four problems in an hour. That had to be some sort of record for inefficiency.

The repetitive hard slap of the basketball’s rubber against the concrete finally ceased. Ben and his friends high fived each other, as they walked to the side of the court to pick up their water bottles and pack up. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ben whispering to the rest of his group, before his friends nodded and departed as a group. He scanned his surroundings hastily, before lightly stepping towards the direction of the tree Rey hid behind.

Rey gulped. If she closed her eyes, perhaps she could make herself disappear -

“Hi, Rey,” Ben smirked as he towered over her. “Enjoy watching our game?”

 _Yes, actually,_ her traitorous mind supplied. But there was no way in the nine circles of hell would she ever admit that. So she blurted out the primary thing that had been floating in her mind over the past hour.

“You should shoot open threes from the left wing more.” The observation just flowed right out of Rey’s mouth, before she realized what she said. Her eyes widened.

Ben’s jaw dropped. “I - _what_?” he stammered. “I thought you actually didn’t know basketball - that you were lying - ”

“I know you pride yourself on your passing skills more, given that they’re more ‘classic point guard abilities’ and whatnot, but you’re actually pretty accurate shooting from the left wing,” Rey continued, not even caring what she divulged at this point, “And your friend - the one wearing the green shirt - has a really good right hand floater that he could develop even more.”

The school’s star point guard was absolutely flabbergasted.

“I - I need to sit down,” he breathily whispered. Without asking for permission, he plopped himself right beside Rey on the grass.

“How do you know all this?” Ben’s eyes were as wide as saucers. 

Rey sighed. “It’s a long story, but I do understand basketball really well. I just don’t like to watch it. I’ve had some, um, bad experiences with it.”

Ben nodded. He internally fought with himself on whether he should pry more into Rey’s response, but decided not to.

“Okay…” he trailed off, “I believe you. Could you repeat your suggestions again?”

Rey raised an eyebrow. Ben was actually willing to listen to her advice, when she was a nobody - especially in the field of basketball?

Ben sensed her doubt, so he physically gestured with his hand for her to continue. Rey’s shoulders relaxed, and she launched into her observations again.

“You shoot pretty accurately from the left wing,” she calmly explained, pointing at the spot on the court, “so you should really take advantage of that. If your team could set you up to to shoot from there, you’ll score more points. I’m guessing that you rarely shoot from there, or at all, since you’re more of a pass-first point guard, right?”

Ben nodded. He was still in shock, but the disbelief was quickly replaced by an expression of thoughtful concurrence.

“I didn’t notice much else, but your friend in the green shirt has a mean floater game. From his right hand, I mean. He should work on that; it’s a great tool to have as a secret weapon.”

“Floater, right hand, alright…” Ben tapped his chin and he stared into the space above him. “I need to tell coach this. I have to go.”

Rey felt her heart tug in pain - _how was that even possible?_ \- as she watched Ben climb up from the ground. “Okay, have fun!” she uttered with completely-faked happiness.

“Oh - I didn’t mean to just leave you like this, I’m sorry!” Ben exclaimed. “I actually came here to talk to you, not about basketball of course, and to thank you - but I really have to go see my coach. I’ll catch up another time, I promise!”

The corners of Rey’s lips tugged into a grin at the prospect of talking to Ben again, this time for sure.

 

\--

 

For all the butterflies that anxiously frequented Rey’s stomach in anticipation of her next meeting with Ben, it turned out Rey didn’t need to wait that long. 

Just three days later, a few light knocks sounded on the door of Rey’s secret space.

Rey immediately scrambled to get up, knowing who was outside. She accidentally knocked over her circuitboard, which was connected to her laptop. Pulled by the connecting cable, the laptop slid right off the table with a crash.

She yelped in horror, diving down to the ground to save her precious laptop. 

Tears pricked her eyes in pain when the laptop crushed her fingers instead of bouncing off the ground. She shook off the pain, breathing a sigh of relief as she hugged the unharmed laptop to her chest.

“Is everything alright?” Ben shyly peeked his head into the door of the janitor’s closet. “Can I come in?”

Rey had completely forgotten that Ben was outside. She immediately lifted her head to greet him, only for the back of her head to hit the underside of her tiny table. 

“Owwwwww,” she moaned in pain as she finally sat back up. This time, her head carefully avoided all portions and edges of the table.

Ben’s right hand, clutching the side of the door, immediately fell to his side. He quickly stepped inside the closet. “Are you okay?” he asked with great concern.

Rey grimaced, both in pain and in humiliation at what Ben just witnessed. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she wheezed. “The pain will go away eventually.”

Gazing up into Ben’s large, brown eyes, Rey already felt 90% healed. 

“Hey, take a seat! Maz actually cleared up more space and added a chair after she - uh - saw you walk out of here last time.”

Ben’s gaze turned to the folded plastic chair leaning against the wall. He smiled.

“Sure, thanks,” he replied, as he unfolded the chair and sat down. “Rey, I really wanted to thank you -”

“Oh no, you really don’t need to thank me. I was just rambling that day - honestly, I’m not sure you should even trust my basketball judgment at all -”

“No, please listen,” Ben held up his hand to halt Rey’s words. 

“I didn’t just want to thank you for basketball. I wanted to thank you for knocking the right idea into my skull, about Paige and Rose,” he said. “Um, I think you can see I’m not - I’m not that great with people. Girls, especially -”

“Yep, I can definitely see that!”

Ben rolled his eyes at Rey’s cheery interruption. “So I really wanted to thank you, for all your advice. Paige is willing to talk to me like a normal person now, and Rose no longer aims to hunt me down anymore.”

Rey’s lips stretched into a proud grin. “I’m glad, Ben. I’m very happy for you!”

Ben returned her bright smile, when he suddenly remembered something. 

“Oh! I completely forgot,” he exclaimed, turning around and lifting his backpack onto his lap. “I brought something for you. As - as a gift of sorts.”

Rey’s eyebrows raised in surprise. No one has ever given her a gift before, and most definitely not for something as small as dishing out three minutes of basic advice. 

“No, no! Please don’t,” she hurriedly gestured to Ben, “you really don’t need to give me anything. I barely helped at all -”

“You don’t want a soldering kit?” Ben inquired with a large smirk. 

Rey could only gape at the beautiful electrical components Ben was pulling out of his bag. A roll of shiny, silver solder was followed by a couple of circuit boards, a sharp soldering iron, and - this had to be one of the fanciest tools she had ever seen in her life - a complete solder holder, with a coiled spring to hold the iron and even a brand new sponge on the sturdy stand.

 _Will candy soon fall out of the sky?_ Rey wondered. She felt like she was living in a dream. _Maybe some dollar bills too? That would be nice._

Ben finished laying out all the equipment on the table. Glancing to his right, he saw that Rey still had her mouth open and eyes wide. Her gaze repeatedly scanned over all the items without pause.

He has never seen anyone so happily shell-shocked over a ten dollar soldering kit. 

“Oh my gosh!” Rey’s exclamation of surprise and ecstasy ended the room’s silence. “OH MY GOSH!”

She picked up the large roll of solder and brushed over every silver coil. She set it back down, before running her fingers over the precious, _gorgeous_ solder holder.

“This is _amazing_ ,” Rey breathed. “I’m absolutely speechless right now. Thank you, thank you so much Ben! But this is way too expensive to give to me, much less as a gift...”

Ben chuckled. “It didn’t cost me a thing, and this kit was already pretty cheap,” he responded. But Rey’s furrowed eyebrows showed she clearly didn’t believe him. “Alright, to be completely honest - my dad runs an auto shop. He was happy to give me this. It really wasn’t a big deal.”

“I just noticed you have a lot of really cool robotics projects on here, and thought you could maybe use a soldering iron. Like for mending the nose gear of your X-wing over there.”

Rey was about to thank him and his dad endlessly, but his last sentence caught her off guard. “You watch Star Wars?”

“Hell yeah I do!” Ben proudly proclaimed, straightening up at this turn of conversation. 

“Darth Vader is so dope. His mask is just incredible. And his red lightsaber? So cool,” he gushed. “He just absolutely destroys almost everyone he meets, and his redemption at the end to save his son was the best. He’s probably my favorite movie character of all time -”

Ben halted his spiel about his favorite cinematic villain upon hearing Rey’s giggles. 

“What’s so funny?” he growled.

“You’re - such - a - nerd!” Rey wheezed during her unceasing laughter. “I can’t believe the school’s star point guard is a Star Wars nerd!”

The tips of Ben’s ears turned a soft shade of red. “What’s wrong with liking Star Wars?” he mumbled, his shoulders slumping defensively.

The ringing of Rey’s giggling finally stopped, though Ben found that he oddly missed the sound.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I think it’s really cool that you like Star Wars! I absolutely _love_ Star Wars,” she explained. “I just find it funny that you walk around school as a macho, too-cool-for-anybody basketball celebrity when you’re secretly a huge nerd!”

Understanding Rey’s meaning now, Ben cracked a grin. “Yeah, I guess I could see why that’s funny now. What did you think of the newest Star Wars movie?”

 

\--

 

A month passed after Ben and Rey gushed over how much they loved the most recent Star Wars film. Soon, the students were let out of school for the summer - every student’s favorite part of the school year.

Well, almost every student.

For Rey, summer break meant no school. And no school meant no avoiding Unkar. From the crack of dawn to midnight, she toiled in the scrapyards and ran all of her foster father’s errands. 

She couldn’t even catch the new Star Wars movie, supposedly a standalone film about one of her favorite characters from the original trilogy. She wondered if Ben had seen it yet, and hoped he wouldn’t spoil it for her, if they ever talked again.

Rey counted down to the first day of the school year, marking off each passing day on the calendar on her wall. Slowly but surely, all the days of summer had been crossed out with big red X’s.

She literally _skipped_ with glee when she entered the school building again, while many of her schoolmates trudged in alongside her with groans and frowns. But nothing could ruin Rey’s cheerfulness on the first day of school.

Carrying a blank notebook and her schedule, she slipped into her first period class - Advanced Computer Science. 

She stopped in her tracks when she noticed all the tables were grouped in pairs. She raised her eyebrow at the seating arrangement, and her heart beat faster in fear of the sea of unfamiliar faces surrounding her.

Thankfully, one familiar individual turned to face her. Rose timidly waved at Rey, kindly gesturing for her to occupy the empty seat beside her. 

Rey did exactly that. Peering around the room, she noticed that she and Rose were the only two juniors in the class. She flashed Rose a thankful smile, glad they were sticking together in this intimidating environment.

“Good morning, class!” Rey immediately turned her attention to the front of the room. 

“My name is Mr. Chewbacca, and welcome to Advanced Computer Science,” Rey’s massive teacher gestured at the information projected on the screen. “Before we begin, note that you and your desk partner will be lab partners for the entire duration of this semester. No complaints, no switches - it’s set for the next few months!”

“We will now briefly go over the class syllabus and expectations. Do understand that this class is not easy, definitely not a course you can expect to get an ‘easy, breezy A.’ You and your partner will be spending a lot of time learning these new algorithms, implementing them, debugging them…”

Rey gulped. She and Rose happened to both turn towards the other and gave each other a firm but hopeful nod.

\--

 

Rey found that she and Rose shared three other classes as well this year, which she would soon find herself to be extremely grateful for. 

In her previous two years at Crait High School, she’s mostly been what others would call a “loner” because she had been focused on 1) her academics and 2) her home situation. Dabbling in a social life and maintain friendships beyond brief “hello’s” in the hallways had not been a priority for her.

That said, Rey and Rose soon became best friends. 

Their personalities complemented each other. Rose’s talkative bubbliness balanced out Rey’s quiet thoughtfulness. They worked remarkably well together - both of them loved everything engineering related and would work tirelessly until they successfully completed a project.

Mr. Chewbacca was no longer stunned when the pair yet again submitted a solution earlier than the rest of the class, and that solution was also clean, efficient, and carefully thought out.

His gigantic grin when the two girls turned in their dynamic programming challenge had them both giddy for days. They both earned full extra credit!

Rey eventually invited Rose to her safe haven. The previously folded plastic chair soon became a permanent fixture in the janitor’s closet, as Rose and Rey went there after school almost every day.

On her second visit there, Rose asked about Rey’s tinkering projects on the shelf. Rey enthusiastically described them all.

“- and this is an automatic line-following car! If I place down black tape on this floor in a certain pattern, no matter how many squiggles there are, this robot car can still follow it accurately.”

“Wow, that’s so cool!” Rose was amazed at her friend’s delightful creations, gently picking up the car and observing it from all angles. “What kind of sensors does it utilize? Where did you put them?”

“It uses two color sensors, one in the front and the back. I’d like to use more sensors, but these were the only Arduino sensors I could scavenge.”

Rose nodded, her hand skimming over the shelf to the next robotic piece. “That makes sense. It might be interesting to put sensors side by side, to track when it veers off course - wow, what’s this?”

“Oh be careful with it,” Rey admonished, “it was my first soldering project. It’s an X-wing model made from scraps.”

“... X-wing?” 

“It’s a plane type from Star Wars, a movie franchise. I love the movies, uh, maybe a little too much.”

“Oh!” Rose squealed with excitement. “I know Star Wars. I’m not a diehard fan - I’m more of a Potterhead, honestly - so I didn’t know that was called an X-wing. My sister and I went to watch the movie that came out around last Christmas. It was awesome!”

Rey grinned. “Oh my goodness, yes!”

“We should rewatch it together sometime!” Rose cheerfully exclaimed, and Rey vigorously nodded in return. “So, you said you soldered part of it? That’s amazing, I used the school robotic lab’s soldering iron once, and it was absolute trash.”

Rose paused to watch Rey stoop down and fish around a box, before pulling out a red and blue soldering kit. Rose gasped, her eyes widening in joyous envy.

“It’s beautiful!” Rose marveled, gently petting the soldering iron and holder. Rey grinned, recalling her own similar reaction when she first saw the kit. “Where’d you get it?”

Rey’s grin immediately slid off her face. “It was a gift,” she whispered, her volume dropping with each successive word, “from Ben Solo.”

Rose chuckled. “Ha! I could have sworn that you just said _it was a gift from Ben Solo_ , as if Ben would ever give anyone anything, much less someone in a grade lower than _his highness_ \- ”

For reasons unknown to her, Rey’s cheeks flushed. 

“- oh my god you’re serious!” Rose shrieked. Rey nodded in affirmation.

“Do you know how crazy that is?” Rose rambled on, temporarily forgetting about Rey’s robotics projects. “Ben never - and I mean never - talks to anyone below his grade, unless they’re his teammate.”

“I assume he gave it to you last semester?” 

Rey nodded again, too speechless to respond with words. 

“That means you were a mere sophomore. And a girl too! No offense, Rey, but you’re not exactly popular -”

“None taken, Rose.”

“- and Ben Solo, all almighty and arrogant, only talks to popular people. So like, his friends. His basketball team. The cheerleaders. And that’s about it!” Rose exclaimed. “I only know this because my sister, Paige, dated him briefly last year, and she was -”

“- the head cheerleader, I know,” Rey interrupted, before she broke out into a large, nostalgic smile. “Funnily enough, I met Ben for the first time here when he was hiding from you. He said you were hunting him down for revenge.”

Rose threw her head back and heartily laughed. “Oh, he hid from me? That’s hilarious,” she commented. “But wait a sec - ‘for the first time’? How many times exactly did you talk to Ben?”

For the second time in a minute, Rey’s cheeks turned pink again. Rose grinned. This was going to be a good story.

 

\--

 

After hearing what Rey had confided in Rose, the youngest Tico began thinking of ways to bring Rey and Ben back together. 

Rose was absolutely floored after Rey spilled the beans about all of her interactions with Ben Solo. They met once on accident, and then he willingly sought her out another two times.

 _And Rey made Ben apologize to her and Paige?_ Rose kneaded her temples at this revelation. 

When Ben had apologized to her a few months ago, Rose had been astonished because his idiot highness Ben Solo was famous for never apologizing. He usually expected people would fall all over themselves to please him - which most did - and merely bestow them a cheeky smirk if any wrongdoing came out of him. 

Rose and Paige had just shrugged the apologies off. They had considered the possibility that perhaps Ben had grown another head and woke up that day suddenly seeking forgiveness. They certainly didn’t mind his change in demeanor. 

Rey’s confessions made everything click now. Rose still couldn’t believe that Ben’s out-of-the-blue yet extremely eloquent apologies were spurred on by a sophomore girl Ben didn’t even know. 

Clearly, there was something sparking between the two of them, and neither of them realized it yet.

Perhaps it was the deep romantic within Rose which picked up on the cues. After all, she had spent her middle school years writing fanfiction for at least six different Harry Potter ships. 

But, seriously! Ben gave Rey a thoughtful, appropriate gift, something Rose would never imagine him doing for anyone. And Rey had even defended Ben’s character just now when Rose told her that.

Rose smirked and rolled up her sleeves. It was time to get working.

 

\--

 

After she confided in Rose about knowing Ben, Rey seemed to stumble into Ben everywhere the past few weeks. 

Rey had a sneaking suspicion that her best friend did something because her chance encounters with the point guard himself increased vastly. But Rose vehemently denied any involvement, that it was “merely coincidence.”

The first time it occurred, Ben passed Rey in the cafeteria. When he cheerfully greeted her with a cheerful “Hi, Rey!”, she looked up into his soulful eyes and snorted water everywhere. That turned into a violent coughing fit, and Rey suddenly wished she could fade into nothingness.

Ben tried to suppress his laughter and was whisked away by his friends. Rose pressed her lips and tutted, before pounding her best friend on the back to help her.

The second time Rey encountered Ben this semester, she was strolling into the school building in the early morning. She did not notice him until his large strides caused him to catch up to her.

Ben tapped her shoulder, completely catching her by surprise. She shrieked, whirling around with her massive metallic water bottle ready in her hand as a weapon. She immediately dropped it to her side when she realized it was just Ben. 

His eyes gleamed with fear and something resembling awe.

Rey stuttered an incoherent apology that she cringed when thinking back to. Before Ben could respond, the warning bell rang and they both dashed to their respective first period classes.

When she entered class, Rose did not comment on Rey’s visibly flushed face.

The third time they met was when Ben crashed into her in the hallways, as she headed to lunch. 

Honestly, Rey wasn’t even sure how Ben had crashed into her, when he was so much taller and had a clear view of everyone in the hallway. 

Her heavy textbooks and binders tumbled out of her backpack. She groaned. _Kriff, all the cafeteria food will be gone when I get there!_

“Ack, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to knock into you,” Ben hastily apologized, crouching down to help pick up her books. 

“No problem. It was just an accident,” Rey replied as she crawled on all fours to grab her binders. “The only downside is that the cafeteria food is probably all gone by now.”

A guilty look creeped upon Ben’s face. “I - I, uh, have an extra grilled cheese sandwich if you’d like that instead?” 

Rey was usually against any form of charity towards her, but it was free food. She could not refuse free food. 

And that was how she found herself spending her whole lunch period in Maz’s janitor closet happily eating grilled cheese sandwiches with Ben.

(Rose ate lunch alone that day, but she was not sad. Instead, she sported a very large, secretive grin when she noticed both Rey and Ben’s absences from the cafeteria.)

These brief, random encounters between Rey and Ben seemed to continue for the next month. Rey found that she did not mind them at all; on the contrary, she seemed to look forward to seeing Ben again.

She thought about all the times Ben had been so kindhearted to her, and thought that perhaps she should return the gesture. After wracking her mind for what she could possibly do - giving a gift was not an option, Ben seemed to have everything - she came to the absurd conclusion that she should go support him at one of his games.

Thankfully, Rose enthusiastically agreed to come with her. She told Rey that the next basketball game was in three days.

She neglected to mention to Rey that it was actually Crait’s final game of their season - the championship game.

 

\--

 

Maybe it was because Rey mentally set a really low bar for what a high school basketball game would be like in person, but she didn’t find the whole experience all that bad actually. 

She and Rose sat in the center of the second highest row of the bleachers. From their vantage point, they could make out the players, especially Ben, clearly.

Rose was dressed in their school colors, red and white, from head to toe - a red and white striped headband, their school shirt, red shorts, and even painted red and white marks under her eyes. 

Rey glanced at her own attire - blue jeans and a black t-shirt saying “May the Force be with you.” She had thought the words to be appropriate for supporting her school’s team.

At halftime, Crait and their opponent, Hoth High, were tied. As Rose loudly cheered for the home team right after the buzzer sounded, Rey’s eyes followed Ben. He seemed to have felt Rey’s intense gaze, his head snapping up to meet her eyes. His eyebrows shot up in surprise and he cracked an energetic grin.

Ben seemed to be a completely different player after halftime. Rey noticed that he ran quicker, was more aggressive on defense, and made cleaner, crisper passes to his teammates. 

She and Rose continued to holler and clap. 

Yet, even with Ben’s extraordinary playing in the second half, Hoth proved to be an equally formidable opponent. The lead jumped back and forth between the two teams. 

With thirty seconds left in the game, the score was back to being tied.

Rey bit her nails anxiously, while Rose leaned forward in eager anticipation. 

It was currently Hoth’s possession of the ball. The player that Ben was guarding dribbled back and forth, watching the clock’s time run down even more. Suddenly, he charged forward, catching Ben by surprise, and beat Ben to the hoop for a rapid layup.

The crowd collectively groaned. 

Rey turned to look at the scoreboard again. Only 8.2 seconds remained in the game, and Crait was down by two points. 

Rose hid her face behind her hands, before separating her fingers slightly to peek at the court.

Ben inbounded the ball to his teammate whose jersey’s backside stated Dameron. He was the one who Rey remarked to have a really good right hand floater - and that’s exactly what he attempted.

The basketball bounced off the rim, into the air. Half of the crowd cried out in anger, while the other half of the crowd nervously turned to look at the clock winding down.

A mad dash for rebounding the ball occurred, before a Crait player - Rey recalled that Rose referred to him as Finn earlier - finally grabbed onto the ball. 

The bleachers grew so quiet, Rey could have heard a pin drop at that moment. From her side, Rose drew in a quick breath.

3.6 seconds remained.

Finn wildly looked around for who to pass the ball to, since he himself was in no position to shoot. Out of the corner of her eye, Rey glimpsed Ben escaping his defender and rushing to the left wing of the court.

Rey gasped. _No way, was he really doing this -_

1.4 seconds remained.

Finn finally hurled the ball to the wide open Ben, who already had his feet set behind the three point line. Ben immediately launched the ball into the air.

The ball left Ben’s fingertips, sailing up through the air in a perfect arc. Then, it dropped, slowly, into the net with a soft _swish_.

The final buzzer sounded. 

There was no time left in the game.

Everyone in the bleachers exploded onto their feet. Ecstatic hollers and screams filled the gymnasium. Red and white confetti rained from the ceiling.

Ben’s teammates immediately leaped onto and tackled Ben. When he emerged again from the mess that was his teammates squashing him, he was hoisted into the air and lifted onto his teammates’ shoulders.

Rey and Rose hugged each other, holding on in disbelief and joy.

“Come on!” Rose tugged Rey’s hand as they broke apart. “Let’s go down to congratulate the players!”

“I - what?” Rey did not budge from her spot.

Rose sensed her friend’s unease at the suggestion. “That’s okay, it’s probably been a lot for you tonight to even be at the game, right?” Rey nodded. “Alright, I don’t want to pressure you. I’m glad you decided to come tonight, Rey!”

Rey smiled. “Yeah, me too. I’m gonna go pack up, Rose, see you!”

 

\--

Ben felt like he was on top of the world right now. Well, it did help that he was sitting atop his teammates’ shoulders, being paraded all around the court.

It had been the last basketball game of his high school career, and he hit a buzzer-beating gamewinner. That’s the stuff of dreams, not real life!

And not only that, Rey had actually seen his victory. He knew that basketball made her uncomfortable for some reason, so it really touched him that she’d shown up to support him tonight.

Speaking of Rey, he scanned the bleachers for her prominent black shirt. _She wasn’t there. _His humongous, beaming smile faded.__

____

____

“Hey, Cassian, could you put me down?” he asked his teammate who was currently hoisting him. Cassian set Ben back onto the ground, puzzled at why Ben wanted to end their celebration short.

“Guys,” Ben addressed his teammates, who were still yelping and bouncing around in joy, “I don’t have time to explain, but I have to go. Congrats you all!”

With that said, Ben turned around and ran towards the gym exit. 

 

\--

 

Ben prayed that Rey had not left the school building yet. There was only one place where he knew she could be right now, if she hadn’t gone home yet. He ran across the campus as quickly as he could. 

Goosebumps erupted as the cool air hit his skin. Ben hadn’t even grabbed a jacket to wear over his jersey in his haste to find Rey.

His footsteps slowed ten meters away from the janitor’s closet. He briefly paused to catch his breath, before walking the rest of the way as quietly as possible.

Light peeked out from underneath the closet door. Ben’s stomach fluttered with hope.

He took a deep breath and knocked. “Rey? You in there?”

The door slowly creaked to reveal her stunned face.

Rey was utterly speechless. “Ben?” she gawked, rapidly blinking just to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. “What are you doing here?”

Her eyes roamed down his torso and noticed he still donned his basketball jersey. 

“Oh - er - I suppose I should have started with this, but congrats on your victory!” Rey fumbled over her laudatory words. “You were amazing tonight, truly. And I can’t believe you actually took my advice.”

At hearing her praise, a faint blush spread across Ben’s face. He tried to will his heartbeat, which seemed to be going a mile a minute, to slow down. 

“Not that I’m not happy to see you, but - why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be celebrating right now?” Rey asked, puzzled.

“I - ” Ben scratched his neck, as he tried to articulate his cloud of jumbled thoughts. Apparently eloquence was neither of the two’s strong suit tonight. 

“I just wanted to see you,” he admitted. “I can’t believe you came. To the game.”

“Yeah…” Rey trailed off as she fidgeted, trying to figure out what to say. “I wanted to be supportive of you, in a way. You’ve been so nice and incredible to me, for the last six months or so, and I never did anything in return. And you were absolutely transcendent in tonight’s game!”

“All because of you,” Ben whispered as he took another step closer to her. 

Rey shivered under the blazing intensity of his gaze. She felt that his dark, brown eyes were piercing into her soul.

She briefly lowered her eyes to his full, pink lips. When she glanced up again, she didn’t have a single moment to react before Ben’s lips came crashing upon hers.

Rey got over her shock quickly and pushed back on his soft, wandering lips with force. She tugged his jersey down, bringing him in even closer proximity, and rested her hand on his hard chest. He caressed her face delicately, rubbing light circles on her cheek with his thumb.

She closed her eyes and savored the moment; everything was happening so quickly, yet it felt as though life had hit the pause button.

Finally - and Rey faintly whimpered at the loss of his touch - Ben pulled away. 

His pupils were blown wide, his hair ruffled - _did I do that?_ \- and yet the sight made Rey swell with an odd sense of prideful joy. She was sure she probably looked the same way in his eyes.

An extended silence descended upon them, as neither knew what to say. Rey’s senses were currently in overdrive, and Ben’s mind was a complete blank.

“That - ” Rey paused to catch her breath. “That was amazing.”

“Yeah, yeah it was,” Ben echoed his agreement with a soft smile. Rey would do anything to see him smile like that again.

A sudden noise came from outside the door, interrupting the calm tranquility of their surroundings. Both of their heads swiveled to the door, but they quickly turned back to face each other.

“Rey.” Her eyes widened. _What is he gonna say? Oh no, is he gonna say this was all a mistake? He probably never wants to see me again -_

“I like you a lot,” Ben blurted out, “like, more than I ever expected.”

Rey’s heart skipped a beat.

“You’re nothing like anyone else I know, in the best way possible. You’re funny, you’re brilliant, you’re kind, you don’t take excuses, you’re sharp, you’re also a secret nerd - I love everything about you. And I’d really love to go out with you this weekend.”

That was it. Ben had finally laid his heart out in the open. He bit his lip nervously as he awaited her response.

Rey’s eyes sparkled, her lips stretching into a wide grin. “I’d love nothing more than that, Ben.”

 

\--

 

“Shush!!!” Rose hissed at the two boys standing next to her. “I’m trying to hear what they’re saying!”

“Why are you the only one who gets to eavesdrop?” Poe grumbled.

“I’m Rey’s best friend!”

“We’re Ben’s friends and teammates!”

Finn rolled his eyes. “Shut it, you two! I’ll give it a listen instead.”

Rose stepped away from the door of the janitor’s closet. Finn took her place, leaning his ear against the door.

“I don’t hear anything,” he whispered. “Are you sure they’re in there?”

“Positive!” Rose affirmed. “There’s light in there, and Rey’s the only student who uses the closet regularly.”

Poe opened his mouth to argue with Rose again, before Finn started flailing his arms. “Holy crap, I think they’re kissing!”

“What???” Poe and Rose cried in unison. 

“Yeah,” Finn breathed out. “Rey just told him it was amazing right after a long period of silence. They definitely just kissed.”

Rose emitted a small yelp of ecstasy.

“Hush!” Poe wheezed. “I’m pretty sure they just heard you.”

“I don’t care, pay up!” Rose’s smile was so wide she thought her face would break. “Told you guys they’d kiss before the end of the semester!”

Finn groaned, but obediently pulled out his wallet, handing over a ten-dollar bill to Rose. He was secretly impressed with Rose.

Poe clenched his jaw, slowly and reluctantly parting with his precious ten dollars as he also dropped the bill in Rose’s outstretched hand. 

Rose beamed with pride.

Suddenly the door creaked upon. Finn immediately leaped out of the way, while Rose and Poe schooled their faces into a neutral expression.

“Hi Rey! Hi Ben!” Rose greeted, as if it wasn’t obvious what the three of them were doing. “How have you two been? Long time no see!”

Finn facepalmed. 

Rey’s cheeks tinted red, while Ben directed a glare towards his two teammates. Poe looked slightly concerned, while Finn gulped.

“Uh, we’re gonna head out. Finn and I have a ride to catch, right Finn?” Poe stammered nervously, elbowing Finn in the side.

“What ride - I mean, yeah! We totally have a ride. So we need to leave now. Bye Rose, Rey!”

Ben smirked at the obvious discomfort of his two teammates and watched them flee.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” Ben spoke softly to Rey.

Rey reached for his hand and squeezed it in affirmation. 

Rose watched with adoration as Rey and Ben exchange stupid grins at each other. She mentally applauded herself for her matchmaking abilities - intentional and unintentional actions both included.

In the far distance, the school’s clock struck a new hour.

**Author's Note:**

> Rose is the real MVP y’all. In every way. Not only did she tell Ben Rey’s entire schedule, so he could “accidentally” stumble into her over and over, she was the reason Ben was hiding in the first place. 
> 
> This fic was so much fun to write. It was supposed to be much shorter, but Rey, Ben, and Rose yelled at me so this turned into 8000 words. Thank you, Erulisse17, for this incredible prompt!
> 
> Thank you [SageMcMae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SageMcMae/pseuds/SageMcMae) for beta’ing this fic.
> 
> Please give it a kudos if you liked it. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!


End file.
